Actor network theory : trials, trails and translations / Mike Michael.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Michael, Mike, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Actor-network theory.

Social networks.

Criminology.

Physical Description:

viii, 188 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

London : SAGE Publications, 2017.

Summary:

In this thought-provoking and engaging book, Mike Michael brings us a powerful overview of Actor-Network Theory. Covering a breadth of topics, Michael demonstrates how ANT has become a major theoretical framework, influencing scholarly work across a range of fields. Critical and playful, this book fills a notable gap in the literature as Michael expertly explicates the theory and demonstrates how its key concepts can be applied. Comparing and contrasting ANT with other social scientific perspectives, Michael provides a robust and reflexive account of its analytic and empirical promise. A perfect companion for any student of science & technology studies, sociology, geography, management & organisation studies, media & communication and cultural studies. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introduction 1

So, How Does This Book Start, Then? How Should I be Reading it? 1

What Makes ANT so 'Special'? Why Does it Deserve my Attention? 3

What is the Point of This Book? What Should I Expect to Get out of it? 6

What's in This Book? How Should I Read it? 7

So, Who's to Blame for This Book, Then? 9

2 Actor-Network Theory: Old and New Roots 10

Introduction 10

ANT - A Sketchy Distinctiveness 11

The Constructedness of Knowledge 12

a Functionalism 13

b Sociology of Scientific Knowledge 14

The Role of the Nonhuman 17

a Whitehead 17

b Serres 19

Power and Representation 21

Flatness and Extension 23

Method, Vocabulary, Analysis 25

Conclusion 27

3 'Classical' Actor-Network Theory 28

Introduction 28

ANT-in-the-Making 29

a Laboratory Life 29

b Pasteurization 31

c The Big Leviathan 32

Systematizing ANT 34

a Tenets 34

b Terminology 36

'The Constructedness of Knowledge' 39

'The Role of the Nonhuman' 40

a Necessary Nonhumans 40

b Hybrids 42

'Power and Representation' 43

'Flatness and Extension' 45

'Method, Analysis, Vocabulary' 48

Conclusion 51

4 Critiques, Concerns and Co-Productions 52

Introduction 52

'The Constructedness of Knowledge' 53

a Boundary Objects 53

b Ambivalence 55

'The Role of the Nonhuman' 56

a 'Fluidity' 56

b Complex 'Functions' 58

c Hybrids and their Problems 59

'Power and Representation' 60

a Marginality 60

b Culture 61

'Flatness and Extension' 61

a Topology 62

b Rhizome 63

c Mediators 63

'Method, Analysis, Vocabulary' 65

a Baggage 65

b Otherness 66

c Property 66

ANT and Agency 67

a Distributive Agency 68

b Attributive Agency 69

c Agency as 'Method' 71

Conclusion 71

5 Ant and Some Big Sociological Questions 73

Introduction 73

A Brief Note on ANT's Anti-Social Theory 74

a The Posthuman 74

b Governmentality and Neoliberalism 75

c Risk Society 76

Bourdieu, Practice and ANT 77

a Overview 77

b Bourdieu and ANT 80

Structuration and ANT 82

a Giddens 83

b Strong Structuration Theory 85

c Strong Structuration Theory and ANT 86

Elias, Figuration and ANT 89

a Elias 89

b Elias and ANT 90

Conclusion 94

6 On Some Disciplinary Translations of Ant 95

Introduction 95

ANT and Some Recent Social Theory 96

a Urry and Mobilities 96

b Thrift - Toward the Non-Representational 99

ANT and 'New Economic Sociology' 101

a Gallon and the 'New Economic Sociology' 101

b The Plastic Bottle as Device 103

Management and Organizational Studies 105

a Translations of ANT 106

b Czarniawska and Action Nets 108

(Elements of) Geography 110

a ANT and Spatiality 110

b The More-than-Human 112

Conclusion 114

7 ON SOME POST-ANTs 115

Introduction 115

Concern, Composition and the Common World 117

Performativity and Politics 120

a Ontological Multiplicity 120

b Interdisciplinarity 123

Cosmopolites 125

a Stengers 126

b Hybrid Forums 128

'Matters of Care' 130

Doing Methodology 132

a Method Assemblage 133

b Research Event 134

Speculation 136

Conclusion 138

8 Conclusions: Some Prospects and Some Practical Orientations 139

Introduction 139

One Overview and Eight Regrets 139

Composing Some More Post-ANTs 142

a Nonhuman Animals, Humans, Agencies 143

b Disasters, Topologies, Ironies 144

c Experience, Knowledge, Distribution 145

d Publics, Issues, Devices 146

e Digital, Social, Method 148

How to do Post-ANT 151.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1446293963

9781446293966

1446293955

9781446293959

OCLC:

965127678